Magnetic duplicating device



July 13, 1965 c. E. JONES, JR

MAGNETIC DUPLICATING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. l5, 1962 INVENTOR. CLAUDE E, JONES) JR.

BY @051mm ATTORNEY July 13, 1965 c. E. JONES, JR l 3,195,143

MAGNETIC DUPLICATING DEVICE Filed Dec. 13, 1962 2 sheets-sheet 2 g o 35 35 34 7 www? 7 a5 6 EO INV EN TOR. GIL/4006 E. JO/V55, di?.

ATT ORNEY United States Patent O 3,195,143 MAGNETIC DUPLICAIING DEVECE Claude E. Innes, Jr., West Calda/eil, NJ., assigner to International Telephone and Teiegraph Corporation, Nutley, NJ., a corporation of Maryland Fiied Dec. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 244,303 6 Claims. (Cl. 346-74) This invention relates to a method and apparatus for printing, especially facsimile printing, and has for its principal object to provide an inexpensive, high speed, printing process and apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a process and apparatus for printing which utilizes well-known tape recording technique.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a high speed, completely dry, printing process and apparatus which will permit printing on cheap paper.

Other objects and objects relating to the construction and assembly of the various parts of the apparatus will be apparent as the description proceeds.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the apparatus embodying the invention with parts broken -away to show the construction more clearly;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional side elevation of the apparatus of FIGURE l, taken on the line 2 2 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a side view of a portion of the apparatus taken from the opposite side of the apparatus, as shown in FIGURE 2, and showing the mechanism for rotating the various moving parts.

With the printing process of the invention, intelligence to be printed on a record blank is first formed into a latent magnetic image. Then that image is brought into contact with the record blank and at the same time magnetic ink containing iinely divided magnetic particles is applied to the other side of the record blank. Elemental areas of the magnetic image develop a flux through the record blank and cause magnetic particles from the ink to be attracted to corresponding areas of the record blank. The record blank is then treated to cause the particles to adhere to the blank which then will have a permanent record of the intelligence.

Referring to the several figures in which one form of apparatus for carrying out the above process is shown, the apparatus comprises a base plate 1 with two side plates 2 and 3 rigidly attached thereto. Side plate 2 has the general shape of an inverted U with legs 4 and 5 at the left and right, respectively, as viewed in FIGURE 2, connected by an upper member 6. The side plates 2 and 3 are identical and are connected together at the top by means of a top plate 7 which is preferably formed integral with the side plates.

A driving roller 8 extends between the legs 4 of the side plates 2 and 3 below the top plate 7 and is mounted for rotation in suitable bearings in the side plates. An idler roller 9 is mounted between the legs 5 of the side plates 2 and 3, parallel to and on the same level as the roller 8, but is resiliently urged away from the roller 8. In order to accomplish this, the roller 9 is rotatably mounted with suitable bearings in members 1t) which are arranged to slide horizontally in openings 11 in the members 2 and 3 and are urged towards the right by springs 12.

A third roller 13 is positioned parallel to the rollers 8 and 9 near the base plate 1. This roller is rotatably mounted in arms 14 which are attached to the side plates 2 and 3 and extend downwardly therefrom. This leaves a free space under the roller 13.

The arrangement of the rollers 8, 9, and 13 forms a triangular path for a wide magnetic recording tape 15 Cil which is endless and is maintained taut by means of the spring-urged roller 9. The tape may be made of any suitable plastic material of which magnetic recording tapes are made. I prefer to use a Mylar tape with a magnetizable coating on the outer surface.

In order to record intelligence on the tape, I provide a disc 16 which is rotatably mounted between that portion of the tape 15 which extends between the rollers 8 and 9 and the top plate 7 and is parallel to said portion of the tape. The disc is secured to the end of a shaft 17 which is rotatably mounted in a suitable bearing in the plate 7 and is maintained in the desired position by means of upper and lower collars, 18 and 19, respectively.

The disc carries a plurality of recording heads 20 which are spaced around the disc near the periphery thereof. The number of the recording heads and the spacing thereof are such that when the disc is rotated and the heads sweep across the tape 15, one recording head will start across the tape just as the previous head is leaving the other side of the tape. The recording heads are positioned in the disc so that the cores are spaced the proper distance from the rnagnetizable tape for the most eiiicient recording.

In order to keep the tape accurately spaced from the recording heads and prevent any shift in its position caused by vibration, I provide a plate 21 just beneath that portion of the tape which is swept by the recording heads. This plate is mounted on two bars 22 and 23 which extend between the side plates 2 and 3.

Connections are made to the recording heads by means of a commutator 24 mounted on the shaft 17 just above the disc 15. The commutator has a segment for each head, and a brush 25 carried by an insulator 26 supported on the top plate 7 connects the segments in succession over the wire 27 to the source of the intelligence signals.

The tape is caused to move slowly in the direction of the arrow in relation to the speed of the recording heads across the tape, so that the heads record in a succession of lines. In order to drive the disc and the tape at the proper speeds, I provide a motor 28 which is mounted on the top plate 7. The motor shaft 29 is provided with a bevel gear 30 which meshes with a bevel gear 31 attached to the end of the shaft 17 which supports the disc 16. The gears 3@ and 31 are shown as the same size, and thus the disc 16 will be rotated at the same speed as the motor. Any gearing arrangement may of course be provided to obtain the desired disc speed. The shaft 29 may be supported by suitable bearings 32.

Another bevel gear 33 is attached to a shaft 34 rotatably mounted in bearings 35 and 36, the former mounted on the top plate 7 adjacent the gear 33 and the latter mounted on the top plate at the end over the side plate 2. The gear 33 meshes with the gear 31, so that the shaft 34 is also driven by the motor 28.

The manner in which the shaft 34 drives the roller 8 is best seen from FIGURE 3. The shaft 34 is provided with a bevel gear 37 at the end thereof which in turn meshes with the gear 38 attached to a stub shaft 39 rotatably supported in a bearing member 4l) attached to the bracket carrying the bearing 36. Another bevel gear 41 is attached to the other end of the stub shaft 39 and meshes with a bevel gear 42 attached to a shaft 43 carried in a bearing member 44 mounted on the side plate 2.

At the right end of the shaft 43, as viewed in FIGURE 3, I provide a worm 45 which meshes with a worm wheel 4d attached to the end of the roller 8 on the outer side of the side plate 2. With this arrangement, the roller 8 can be made to rotate very slowly with respect to the rotation of the disc 16.

As shown, there are four recording heads on the disc and hence there will be four lines of recording for each rotation of the disc, and since the tape driven by the roller 3 moves much slower, the lines of recording may be made close together.

The record blank d'7 may consist of thin paper and may be provided on a roll (not shown) from which it is fed to the printing apparatus over an idler roller 48 which is rotatably mounted between the legs 4 of the side plates 2 and 3 `in suitable bearings in the plates. This roller is positioned at a level above the roller i3 and below the roller 8, so that the paper blank travels downwardly to pass under the roller 13 in contact with the tape l5. From the roller 13, it passes upwardly and between two rollers 419 and 50 to pass out of the printing apparatus.

The driving roller 419 is rotatably supported in suitable bearings in the legs of the side plates 2 and 3v and is provided at its end, outside the plate Z, with a worm wheel 5l which meshes with a worm 52 attached to the end of the shaft 43. Rotation of the shaft 43 will cause rotation of the roller 49 at a much slower speed.

The idler roller 5t) is rotatably mounted between two arms 53, one pivotally mounted on the plate 2 and the other pivotally mounted on the plate 3 by means if pivots 54. Only one of these arms is shown in FIGURE 2, but the other is identical. The roller 5i) is mounted at the ends of these arms opposite the pivots and is positioned adjacent and parallel to the roller i9 and is urged towards that roller by means of springs 55 which are connected between the arms and the lugs 56 provided on the sides of the side plates 2 and 3. Pressure between the rollers 49 and 5t) is adjusted by means of the tension of the springs.

The roller 49 is positioned on a level between the roller 9 and the bottom roller 13. It will be seen that'with this arrangemenh'the paper blank makes contact with the magnetic tape l5 along a horizontal area at the lowerrnost point of travel if the tape l5. it is at this area that the magnetic ink is applied to the paper. To this end a shallow container 57 is positioned -to rest on the base 1 and is long enough to extend beyond the arms iid which carry the roller 13. The width of the container and its depth are suiiicient to permit the paper blank 47 to pass into the container and under the tape l5 and roller i3 and to pass out of the container as it travels towards the rollers i9 and Si). The container is filled toa predetermined level with a magnetic ink 58 which may be either a line magnetic powder or a colloidal suspension of a tine magnetic powder in a liquid carrier. The level of the ink in the container may be maintained by feeding the ink into the container through a pipe 59.

ln operating the printing apparatus, a paper blank i7 is fed through the apparatus by passing it over the roller d3 and under the magnetic tape 15 and roller 13 and out between the rollers 49 and 50. When the motor is started, the disc i6 will be rotated through the bevel gears 3d and 3l, and kthe roller S will be rotated at a much slower speed over the mechanism comprising the bevel gear 33,

the shaft 3d, the bevel gears 337` and 38, the shaft 39, the bevel gears 4l and 42, the shaft 43, the worm d5, and the worm wheel le which is attached to the roller The magnetic tape will thus be continuously moved in theV direction of the arrow beneath the disc 16.

At the same time, the roller 459 is driven by means of the worm 52 attached to the shaft i3 which will turn lthe worm wheel 5l attached to the vroller 49. The ratio of these gearsrand wormsV and worm wheels lis such that the paper will be drawn through the apparatus at the same speed at `which the magnetic tape is moving, and that speed is slow enough with respect to the speed of rotation Y of the disc, so that each recording head will createk one line of the magnetic image on the tape. As the paper and tape move together through the magnetic ink 58 in the container 57, magnetic particles will be attracted to the paper at areas where the tape on the other side of the paper has been magnetized, the iiux acting through the paper. lf the paper is from 2 to 5 mils thick, and the separation between the particles and the elemental magnetized areas on the tape is not over 5 mils, deiinition of from 100 to i000 lines is possible. The particles will be carried by the paper to the pressure rollers 49 and 5h where the particles will be pressed into the paper to form a permanent visible mark. In this manner, pictures, as well as alpha-numeric characters, may be reproduced.

if desired, the surface of the paper may be given a weak adhesive to aid in holding the particles onto the paper before the paper reaches the rollers 49 and 5t). Also it may be found desirable for permanently setting the particles into the paper to apply heat to one or both of the rollers, and this may be done electrically or otherwise in a well known manner, not shown.V Other means of lining the magnetic particles to the paper may be used.

Near the roller 13, on the right side, as viewed in Elfi-V URE 2, I provide an erasing head 611i which may extend across the tape and may be supported on the bar 6.7., which,

in turn, is supported between the side plates 2 and 3. By well known techniques, the intelligence which has been recorded on the tape may thus be erased after the contact with the paper blank has beenV made, so that the tape is ready to receive a fresh record as it passes again under the recording heads.

While the apparatus has been shown for carrying out facsimile printing, the invention lends itself to a high speed tape printer for printingV alpha-numeric characters. In such an arrangement, five or seven stationary recording heads might be positioned across the magnetizable tape, with the movement of the tape furnishing the horizontal sweep. Then a paper tape would be merged with the record tape, the magnetic ink applied, and `the magnetic particles Vwhich are picked up by the paper set into the paper by pressure or heat or otherwise.

It will be seen from the above, that I have provided a method and apparatus for high speed printing which uses inexpensive paper that need not be treated in any way. In fact, Vthe process may be completely dry when the ink is composed of dry powdered magnetic particles.

Otherrnoditcations may be made in the process and in the apparatus without departingrfrom the spirit of the invention, and Ido not therefore wish to limit myself to the arrangement shown and described except by the limitations included in the appended claims.

What I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A printing -apparatus comprising a thin sheet of magnetizable material, means for recording intelligence magnetically on said sheet whereby elemental areas of said sheet are magnetized, a record blank on which the intelligence is `to be printed, means for bringing said magnetiza'ble sheet into contact with said record blank, a magnetic inl. containing finely divided magnetic particles, means for applying said ink to the opposite side of said record blank from said magnetizable sheet whereby magnetic particles in said ink will be attracted .to said record blank at .areas corresponding to magnetized elemental areas of said magnetizable sheet, and means for causing said magnetic particles to adhere to said yrecord blank, said magnetizable sheet being in the form of an endless belt, -said means for recording intelligence magnetically on said sheet comprising at yleast one recording head and means for causing said recording head to scanV repeatedly across the width of Vsaid magnetizable sheet to record intelligence .in successive 'substantially parallel lines across said magnetizable sheet, said record blank having an adhesive surface against which said ink is applied on successive areas of said record blank, yand said means for causing `said magnetic particles to adhere to said record blank comprising means for p easing 'said particles into the material of said record blank.

2. A printing apparatus in accordance with `claim ll,`

3. A printing apparatusin accordance with claim 2, inV which said meansl for causing said recording head to re;

cord in successive substantially parallel lines across said magnetizable -sheet comprises means for driving one of said rollers, and a scanning disc mounted parallel to said fiat surface for carrying said recording head near the periphery of said scanning disc in recording proximity to said a-t surface, and means for rotating said scanning disc at a relative rate with respect -to the rate of rotation of said roller such that said recording head will sweep in successive paths across said belt.

4. A printing apparatus according to claim 3, in which said means for bringing said magnetizable sheet into contact with said record blank comprises guide means for guiding said record blank into Contact with said magnetizable sheet as it crosses over one of said rollers, and in which ysaid means for applying said magnetic ink comprises a container for said ink and means for positioning said container so that said successive portions of said record blank will be immersed in `said ink ras said record blank comes into contact with said mangetizable sheet.

5. A printing apparatus lin accordance with claim 1,

in which said means for pressing said particles into the material of said record blank comprises a pair of rollers mounted parallel to each other and in close mutual proximity, resilient means for urging said rollers toward each other, and means for moving said record blank between said rollers.

6. A printing apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the surface of said record blank exposed to said ink is slightly adhesive.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,657,932 11/53 Blaney 179-1002 2,750,449 6/56 Thompson 179-1002 OTHER REFERENCES Publication: TBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 1, No. l, June 1958, page 20.

IRVING L. SRAGOW, Primary Examiner. 

1. A PRINTING APPARATUS COMPRISING A THIN SHEET OF MAGNETIZABLE MATERIAL, MEANS FOR RECORDING INTELLIGENCE MAGNETICALLY ON SAID SHEET WHEREBY ELEMENTAL AREAS OF SAID SHEET ARE MAGNETIZED, A RECORD BLANK ON WHICH THE INTELLIGENCE IS TO BE PRINTED, MEANS FOR BRINGING SAID MAGNETIZABLE SHEET INTO CONTACT WITH SAID RECORD BLANK, A MAGNETIC INK CONTAINING FINELY DIVIDED MAGNETIC PARTICLES, MEANS FOR APPLYING SAID INK TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID RECORD BLANK FROM SAID MAGNETIZABLE SHEET WHEREBY MAGNETIC PARTICLES IN SAID INK WILL BE ATTRACTED TO SAID RECORD BLANK AT AREAS CORRESPONDING TO MAGNETIZED ELEMENTAL AREAS OF SAID MAGNETIZABLE SHEET, AND MEANS FOR CAUSING SAID MAGNETIC PARTICLES TO ADHERE TO SAID RECORD BLANK, SAID MAGNETIZABLE SHEET BEING IN THE FORM OF AN ENDLESS BELT, SAID MEANS FOR RECORDING INTELLIGENCE MAGNETICALLY ON SAID SHEET COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE RECORDING HEAD AND MEANS FOR CAUSING SAID RECORDING HEAD TO SCAN REPEATEDLY ACROSS THE WIDTH OF SAID MAGNETIZABLE SHEET TO RECORD INTELLIGENCE IN SUCCESSIVE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL LINES ACROSS SAID MAGNETIZABLE SHEET, SAID RECORD BLANK HAVING AN ADHESIVE SURFACE AGAINST WHICH SAID INK IS APPLIED ON SUCCESSIVE AREAS OF SAID RECORD BLANK, AND SAID MEANS FOR CAUSING SAID MAGNETIC PARTICLES TO ADHERE TO SAID RECORD BLANK COMPRISING MEANS FOR PRESSING SAID PARTICLES INTO THE MATERIAL OF SAID RECORD BLANK. 